Bucharest Stock Exchange goes up by 9 percent in Q1 and ranks in the first half of EU capital markets in terms of quarterly growth rates

4/19/2019

The Romanian capital market went up by 9 percent at the end of the first quarter this year, as the BET index, including the most traded 16 companies except for the Financial Investment Companies, went past the 8,000-point benchmark.

Adrian Tanase, BVB CEO: The local stock exchange resumed growth in the first quarter, while trading volumes were modest as compared to the first three months from last year. BVB and the whole financial community must make it a priority to increase the involvement of individuals in the capital market in order to significantly change the premises of future development of the market.

Lucian Anghel, BVB President: High volatility characterized the first quarter this year as the main market index went from negative to positive, as investors received well the new legislative clarifications, the continued strong economic activity and generous dividends, which were around 9 percent last year for the main listed companies, being among the largest in the world.

The Bucharest Stock Exchange (BVB) saw all its indices post positive returns at the end of the first quarter amid domestic and international uncertainties. The BET index, which includes the most traded 16 companies except for the Financial Investment Companies, went up by 9 percent after the first three months, posting a closing value of 8,045 points at the end of the last trading session from March. A similar growth rate was reported by the BET-TR index, which also includes the dividends offered by the companies from the BET index. Romania has therefore managed to rank 13th in the European Union as far as the growth pace among the main indices of the European stock exchanges is concerned.

Domestic and foreign uncertainties had their say and translated into an average daily trading value of EUR 9.33 million, lower than the first quarter from last year. The total trading volumes for all the financial instruments also shrank in Q1 but managed to stay above the half a billion euros threshold.

"The local stock exchange resumed growth in the first quarter, while trading volumes were modest as compared to the first three months from last year. BVB and the whole financial community must make it a priority to increase the involvement of individuals in the capital market in order to significantly change the premises of future development of the market", said Adrian Tanase, CEO of BVB.

"High volatility characterized the first quarter this year as the main market index went from negative to positive, as investors received well the new legislative clarifications, the continued strong economic activity and generous dividends, which were around 9 percent last year for the main listed companies, being among the largest in the world", said Lucian Anghel, President of the Board of Governors of BVB.

At the end of the first quarter, the market value of the Romanian companies listed on BVB amounted to EUR 19.3 billion as compared to EUR 18.1 billion at the end of last year, which corresponds to a 6.6 percent increase. The capitalization of all the companies listed on the Main Market of BVB accounted for EUR 33.3 billion at the end of the last trading session from March, compared to EUR 30.6 billion, which is 8.8 percent over the level from last year.